Magic Johnson announces bid to buy Dodgers

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Basketball great Earvin "Magic" Johnson announced a bid Friday to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers.

"I love baseball," Johnson told the Los Angeles Times in an interview. "I've been a Dodgers fan and gone to the park many, many times."

Johnson would serve as the face of an ownership group that would include the former president of the Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals, Stan Kasten and the chief executive of Guggenheim Partners, Mark Walter, the Times reports. Guggenheim Partners is a financial services firm that controls over $125 billion in assets.

As Johnson described it to ESPN, his potential ownership of the Dodgers would work like this: Walter would write the checks and Kasten would oversee the baseball operations. Johnson, who recently sold his partial ownership share of the Lakers, would serve as a president or vice president on both the business side and in recruiting players when needed.

The Dodgers' previous owner Frank McCourt recently agreed to sell the team, and now Johnson will join a pool of prospective buyers that include Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.

Johnson, now 52, founded and heads Magic Johnson Enterprises and the nonprofit Magic Johnson Foundation. The foundation was created in 1991 after Johnson announced that he had contracted HIV. The organization aims to promote AIDS and health awareness and provide community services and scholarships.